Ryo Soma
Ryo Soma (杣 燎 Soma Ryō?): Habaki's illegitimate daughter, and temporary replacement for Haiyabou of the Rokki-dan. Plot Introduction of the Rokki-dan Ryo is first introduced as Kagimura's servant, and a woodcutter, but when Kagimura was sentenced to death, it was revealed that she was truly his daughter. Prior to this one of Kagimura's Rokki-dan, named Haiyabou had been killed by Sukezane Baro, and she pleaded to be his replacement. At first, Kagimura declined, but after consideration, he reluctantly accepted her as a member of the Rokki-dan. Later at the first meeting of the official Rokki-dan, she is introduced as one of the Rokki-dan along with her new attire. When Kagimura's Wife and Son are taken by Ugen Hanabusa's men, Ryo tries to fight them off unarmed, but is beaten, and when the guards were going to kill her Kagimura's wife who realized all along that she was her daughter, pretended to be disgusted by her presence and told her to get out of their site, ultimately saving her life. Hunt for the Itto-ryu Once Sosuke Abayama, second in command of the Itto-ryu's whereabouts had been tortured out of his own son by Murasaki, Ryo along with Kagimura Shishiya Arashino, and a group of Hebigumi, went to the ruins of the old Itto-Ryu Dojo. A group of Hebigumi went into a trap door which leads to Sosuke's living quarters as well as the Itto-Ryu training grounds but never made it out as Sosuke flooded the underground facility with Seawater. Ryo and the others went to the exit, but Magatsu, along with Baro, and ten of the new Itto-Ryu recruits with bows appeared above. The Rokki-dan headed for cover, but the three remaining Hebigumi was killed by the arrows. Once the Itto-Ryu ran off after their attack, Ryo jumped the wall and chased after them. Ryo defeated one of the newer Itto-Ryu recruits named Katsumata, but then faced Magatsu who pointed out the flaw in her logic when she said the Itto-Ryu were not truly fighting one on one. Magatsu easily beat her, but spared her life, and ran off with the rest of the Itto-Ryu Leaving Edo When the Rokki-dan tailed the Itto-Ryu out of Edo, after a long journey Koji Kashin of the Itto-Ryu split off from the rest. Inroku Ban volunteered to go after him, thinking he could use it as a chance to escape, and Ryo volunteered to go with him, along with four Hebigumi men. Along the way the group goes up a hill, and Inroku tries to get everyone walking in front of him so he can break off from the group, but Ryo sees through this and is confident that Kagimura allowed her to go with him because he knew she could win in a fight, but as they are about to clash the Hebigumi who had gone too far ahead started to scream, and arrows began to rain down on the two. When an Itto-ryu archer was about to fire at Ryo who had her back turned, Inroku shot him straight in the forehead, and she wondered why he would help him. Ryo runs up ahead to kill the four other Itto-Ryu archers, she dodges a trap and kills one, but on the way to the next, she is nearly hit by an arrow until Ban shoots it in mid-air. Ryo kills the Itto-Ryu, but the last one sends a barrage of arrows at her, which Inroku unloads all of his weaponry on, and saves Ryo once again, who then finishes off the last of the archers. They hear Koji praising Inroku from afar, and Inroku agrees to help Ryo find the lost Hebigumi with the condition that he can be let off the hook, and leave the Rokki-dan. The two split up, and Ryo finds one of the dead Hebigumi, but on her way to the others she sees Inroku fighting against Koji. Koji used Seashells covered in Nitric acid to make the air 20% carbon Dioxide, which affected Ryo much more than it did Inroku because she was running around the entire time, and became more exhausted than Inroku who could just stand in place and shoot. Inroku starts to lose consciousness, and Koji offers to end his life painlessly by using acupuncture needles on his pressure points, but Inroku shoots his own leg to regain consciousness, and shoots Koji straight in the heart, as Koji throws four of his needles straight into Inroku's head. Koji reveals that he carried his needles over his vital points to serve the second purpose of protecting him from enemy attacks. Ryo learns from Inroku's death that she should somehow regain consciousness by hitting herself, but leaving it unnoticeable to the enemy. Ryo stabs a needle through her breast and covers it with her attire, and when Koji passes by he thinks she's unconscious but wants to send a message of strength to the Rokki-dan. Just to make sure she can't attack him Koji throws one of his needles into Ryo's left arm and goes up to her to cut her face-off, but Ryo pulls a lever, launching arrows into Koji's back, and finishes him by stabbing an arrow through his throat. as Koji stumbles over and dies he attempts to throw his needles into Ryo but fails. Leaving the Battle When Ryo stumbles out of the woods where she was fighting she just happens to be near Mitake, who offered to bring her back to her father. Ryo accepted but didn't know Mitake's true intentions, to bring her back to safety in Edo. Along the way, Ryo wakes up, and questions why Mitake isn't going along the path to Habaki, but he tells her that he was ordered to bring her to safety by Kagimura. Ryo doubts that her father would order such an action out of parental love, but Mitake tells her that she's the only thing Habaki has left, after his Wife, and Son died, and he was scheduled to die after the next three weeks. Ryo cuts herself loose from the horse and is picked up by Giichi, and Hyakurin, of the former Mugai-Ryu. Mitake asks the two to take care of Ryo for three days, and that Giichi is the only one who can stand a chance against Anotsu if Kagimura is killed. Later she is seen to be alone, struggling to get to her father to help him. She falls to the ground, almost passing out but a horseman approaches her and asks if she is alright. She recognizes him as Taito Magatsu and allows herself to be helped by him. While riding together she asks Magatsu if he will teach her the way of the sword so she can get stronger. Weapons and Abilities Weapons Ryo uses two standard Katana blades that she can hook together in order to do feats such as jumping up a wall. Abilities Ryo is fairly weak compared to most of the "core" Itto-Ryu, and Rokki-dan because she never had proper training, but she was able to defeat Kashin Koji by playing dead. Relationships Habaki Kagimura Habaki is Ryo's father, as well as her superior. She wishes for him to use her as a pawn in defeating the Itto-Ryu, but Habaki is unwilling to do, as he has Mitake bring her away. Mitake Mitake is one of Habaki's loyal retainers as well as the man who would take Ryo in after Habaki died. Ryo does not dislike Mitake, but would rather die on the battlefield for her father than live with anyone else. Category:Rokki-dan Category:Secondary characters Category:Female characters Category:Deceased